Misery Loves Love?
by MagickalAirFairy
Summary: The aftermath of a secret confrontation with He Who Must Not Be Named. Watch as friends, companions, and enemies develop love lives after *someone* leaves now that they no longer have to spend every second with or against him or her...
1. The News

Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling owns all these characters, and we worship for creating them. well, most of them.  
  
"Where's Harry, I thought he said that he'd be back for supper," Ron asked himself as he and Hermoine were walking towards the dining hall.  
"Well as long as it was business for Dumbledore I'm sure everything's fine."  
"Yeah, you're right, just like you always are." Ron trailed off as they walked into the hall, everyone was silent and Dumbledore was patiently standing, a vacant look in his eyes.  
When it was clear that everyone was in the hall Dumbledore opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again as if deciding to keep whatever he was about to say a secret. After a few moments he opened his mouth again.  
"I regret to inform you that the bodies of Harry Potter and Lord Voldermort were found in a previously unknown part of the Forbidden Forest. It appears that they inflicted the deadly Avada Kedavra curse on each other at exactly the same moment instantly killing them both. A memorial service will be held at the beginning of next year," Dumbledore spoke the words slowly as if he himself didn't believe them. No one noticed the tear that fell from his left eye and slowly rolled down his hollow cheek before it fell down onto his beard and slowly trickled towards the floor.  
"But, no, it can't be! Harry's not dead!" Ron yelled, his eyes glowed with uncontainable rage.  
"Maybe, maybe." Hermoine fainted and Neville caught her.  
"We should take her back to the common room," Neville whispered.  
"HE'S NOT DEAD!" Ron roared.  
"Come one, let's go rest a while," Ginny tugged on her brother's sleeve.  
When Hermoine had woken up and Ron had cooled down Neville and Ginny were joined by Luna.  
"I can't believe it, it's wrong, it's sick, it's." Hermoine fainted again.  
"Why can't the dumb chit just stay awake?" Ron growled as he looked at Hermoine.  
"Come on now, you don't really mean that. Don't push us away, we're just as upset as you," Luna crooned in her singsong voice.  
"No. you're. not!" Ron ran from the room.  
"Denial is not going to get him anywhere," Luna sighed sadly.  
"Well you can't blame him! One of his best friends just died!" Hermoine snapped as she sat up.  
"You wouldn't be defending him if you'd heard what he said about you when you were out cold," Luna said quietly.  
"What! What did he say?" Hermoine exclaimed.  
"Never mind him, he's just upset," Ginny said as she sat down next to Hermoine on the couch.  
"Yeah, you know how it is." Neville said quietly.  
"No! I don't know how it is, explain it to me!" Hermoine screamed.  
"Calm down, you're nearly as bad as Ron," Ginny said to Hermoine.  
"I heard that," Ron moped from the boys' dormitory before blowing his nose. 


	2. Hermoine's Plan and the London Girl

A few days later  
  
There was a knock on the door to the boys dormitory, Ron rolled over and covered his head with his pillow. Then the knocking started again.  
"Go away!" Ron scowled at the door.  
"Ron, it's me, can I come in," Hermoine said through the door waiting for an answer. He didn't answer for a few moments. "Well I'm coming in."  
"Go away," Ron growled again as he heard Hermoine walking towards him.  
"I'm not going away you big lug, you're just going to have to listen to what I'm going to say."  
"I can't hear you," Ron mumbled to his pillow.  
"Of course you can," Hermoine continued as if she were teaching a kindergarten class. "Now, I want to talk about, about . . ." she stopped talking and tears started flowing from her eyes. They went ignored for a few moments before Hermoine threw her shoulders back and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, Ron appeared not to notice. "I want to talk about Harry's death." A silence heavier than lead settled over the conversation, the only sound was Ron and Hermoine's breathing.  
"Why?" Ron asked quietly. He was having mixed feelings about Harry's death. He missed him, of course he did, Harry had been his best friend through everything. But lately, lately it had seemed that Ron was merely Harry's sidekick, not his friend. Ron was the person who waited around with nothing to do until Harry needed him. In ways Ron finally felt free, and then a blanket of guilt swept over him, in that moment he had almost been happy that Harry had died.  
"Because I don't think that Dumbledore told us the truth about how Harry died, in fact, Dumbledore may not even know how Harry died."  
"How could Dumbledore not know, he knows almost everything!" Ron protested without rolling over to even look at Hermoine.  
"Well we have all of summer break to figure it out, and you're helping," Hermoine said curtly. Ron had forgotten that they were going home tomorrow, home, Ron couldn't even picture home anymore, fancy that.  
"Fine," Ron grumbled as he finally rolled over to face Hermoine. "So where do we start?"  
"I'm glad that you've finally come around to your senses. I'll send a letter to you with a list of things that I want you to research and take notes on, we'll compare when school starts again."  
"Isn't that what summer's for? Not taking notes, not researching blimey boring stuff these grumpy teachers think up?" Ron whinged but Hermoine was already out the door.  
  
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Draco walked through the streets as he stared at the grey clouds in the sky, it was going to rain soon, not all to uncommon for jolly old London. Just as he was about to turn around and go home a girl wearing a black leather duster, ripped jeans, and a black shirt that was probably two sizes too small caught his eye. Hoping that she was one of London's rare streetwalkers he sauntered up to her.  
"Hullo," he greeted her, his voice had finished deepening a few days after Potter had gone and gotten himself offed.  
"Hello," she replied in a singsong voice that could have melted butter, but her American accent blared through her melodious voice.  
"You're not from around here are you?"  
"Damn, two years and I still haven't gotten a bloody accent," she sighed.  
"Well you've sure picked up the vocabulary," he grinned at her.  
"Oh my gosh, you're . . . come with me," she replied as she took his hand and dragged him towards a small alley. Draco looked down at her hand, her fingers were very pale, just like her face, and her long nails shown in the gloom.  
"What's this all about love?" Draco crooned in her ear.  
"You're a wizard aren't you?" she whispered, he stepped back as if she had bitten him.  
"How did you know? Are you a witch?" Draco asked in anticipation, if she was a witch there was no way that she went to Hogwarts.  
"In a sense. My mother got invited to Hogwarts and her parents forbid her to go and then they moved to the United States. When my mother found out that she was pregnant with me she didn't even know who the father was. She's never told me about her past but I have powers that I have used to read her memory when she's asleep. I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts but since I'm not famous like Harry Potter was I've never gotten invited." Draco sneered when she mentioned Potter's name.  
"If you do have powers pet tell me what my name is," he was curious about this girl, there was something different about her.  
"Draco, Draco Malfoy. Ah, the Malfoys, purebloods through and through," she half smiled when she mentioned his surname.  
"Very good, unfortunately I need more proof than that, tell me something else."  
"You go to Hogwarts, it's going to rain in two and a quarter minutes, and you're almost going to get hit by a bus very soon," she predicted as her eyes grew wide with fear.  
"You're a very good actress, though I can tell when I'm being conned," Draco turned to go and didn't even look when he strutted into the street. All of a sudden he felt a small weight being thrown on to his back and he crashed onto the sidewalk as he heard a horn sound, a bus horn. The girl was on the ground at his feet.  
"So maybe you aren't a fake," Draco acknowledged as he stood up. She didn't even bat an eyelash, the only sign that she was still alive was the rhythm of her chest rising and falling. Slowly he bent down and rolled her over, there was a deep scratch along her right side and it was oozing blood. "Come on, come on, wake up!" he coaxed, and then commanded, and then yelled. She didn't move.  
Draco picked up the girl and began to run to the closest place where he knew that flu powder could be used. As he was running it occurred to him that he didn't even know her name.  
  
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A few days after Ron had returned home a brown owl twittered through the kitchen window with a tan piece of paper in it's talons. Ron took the letter and slowly unrolled it.  
  
I know this may be hard but remember, it's for our friend. He would want us to know how he really died, my research has almost positively confirmed that there is no possible way that he and Lord Voldermort could both have died from the Avada Kedavra curse. For them both to die they would have to had cast the spell at the exact same moment, and if any two spells meet anywhere inbetween their caster and their destination both spells will suck the power out of the other spell reducing it to one hundredth of it's original strength. We need to find out how Harry REALLY died. Here's the list of topics;  
  
Wizarding duels  
Destroying a spell  
The life of a spell  
The casting of a spell  
Sharing of a soul between two or more persons  
  
I know the last one may seem far fetched but I'll explain it all at Hogwarts when no one else even has the opportunity of over-hearing, or over- reading.  
  
-Hermoine  
  
Ron sighed, what was Hermoine thinking, it would be like reliving Harry's not so distant death all over again. Although Ron felt a strong urge to prove to Hermoine that Harry had died from the deadly curse, it was the only thing that could have fallen his die hard friend. Before he could finish his thoughts a beautiful chestnut owl appeared at the window and waited for permission to enter. Ron told it to come in with a flick of the wrist, he had never seen this owl before. The owl landed in front of Ron and flashed a gold lined envelope tied to it's talon. Dutifully Ron untied the ribbon and looked over the envelope hoping that it wasn't just hurtful trick of Draco's, although Draco hadn't even attempted to pull off a hoax in quite a while.  
Slowly Ron tore the seal. Out fell a white piece of paper with blue writing on it.  
  
Dear Ron,  
I know that Harry's death has been really hard on you and that you're probably not even close to ending your grieving for him but I was wondering if you wanted to go see the Chudley Cannons game with my dad and I this Saturday, he hast box tickets. Write me soon.  
  
-Luna  
  
Although the idea in its entirety was unconceivable Ron instantly recognized the handwriting. He remembered when he had wanted to ask Luna to Hogsmeade but Harry had told him that everyone would make fun of him for going out with the weird girl. Since when had Harry not been weird? It seemed the Harry could have Cho, the dead boy who he'd carried out from the Triwizard Tournament's girlfriend, but Ron couldn't have the Quibbler's boss' daughter. Well Ron was going to go with Luna on Saturday and Hermoine and Harry would have to wait until Sunday. It's not as if Harry was going to go anywhere. 


End file.
